The Pope arrived in the ghost town on the Golan Heights that is a symbol of the destructive forces of war yesterday, kneeling in the husk of a destroyed church to pray for peace, in the most politically sensitive stop of his pilgrimage to Christian sites in Syria.

The Pope has made war and peace a crucial theme of his four-day visit to Syria, where he has retraced the footsteps of St Paul, who converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus.

Quneitra was the most symbolic stop on his itinerary. The town was occupied by Israeli forces in 1967 and destroyed during their withdrawal seven years later. It has been deliberately left a ruin since being abandoned to the winds that sweep across this high grassy plateau.

But yesterday the eerie ghost town was full of people - including those who fled in the 1967 war - bussed in by the thousand by the Syrian government, and lined up in front of the television cameras recording the Pope's visit.

In the ruined Greek Orthodox church, he prayed for peace and reconciliation in a quavering voice. "From this place, so disfigured by war, I wish to raise my voice in prayer for peace in the Holy Land and the world," he said.

A contingent from the UN peacekeeping forces stood outside under their blue flag.

Damascus refuses to rebuild the town or let more than a handful of its 50,000 residents return, vowing to preserve it as a macabre shrine to Israeli aggression, until the entire Golan is back in Syrian hands.

From this wasteland of razed houses and shell-scarred churches and mosques, Israeli positions and radar posts are clearly visible beyond coils of barbed wire that mark the ceasefire line.

This is the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights, where some 18,000 Druze and other residents hunger for unification with their kin in Syria.

The Pope's message was far less political than Syria might have wished, and avoided explicit criticism of the Jewish state. "We pray for the peoples of the Middle East. Help them to break down walls of hostility and division and to build together a world of justice and solidarity," he said.

The Vatican has repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution that would return captured land to its original owners, but the Pope is unlikely to move beyond those appeals to open criticism of Israel before ending his pilgrimage today.

Instead, his visit has focused on reconciliation between Christians and Muslims, symbolised by the first visit of any pontiff to a mosque at the weekend.

But his message of mutual understanding has left a residue of bitterness in the region. In his welcoming speech, the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, likened the Israelis to the betrayers of Jesus; the Israeli government in reply accused Damascus of anti-semitism.

After praying, the Pope watered a small olive tree, before leaving for Damascus.

For the people of the Golan Heights, the visit was hugely symbolic. Mohammed Anis Hussein, a civil servant who was among those taken to Quneitra yesterday, said it would show the world "there are people under occupation and moved from their land".